Thursday, April 23, 2015

Review - - Hold Me

Hold Me

By Susan Mallery

Publisher: Harlequin HQN

Release Date: April 28, 2015

Destiny Mills has just arrived in Fool’s Gold prepared to
enjoy her three-month stay, her first in California. She has been sent by her
employer to lead the team training the town’s search and rescue squad in the
use of STORM (Search Team Rescue Management Software) after she maps the
physical geography of the wilderness area around Fool’s Gold so that the
million-dollar software program is customized for the company’s newest client.
Destiny likes her job and the rolling-stone life that comes with it. Since she
is never in one place long enough to set down roots, she never has to worry
about the drama that is often part of long-term relationships. Destiny had
enough drama to last a lifetime growing up with two country music superstars as
parents. When she does settle down, Destiny is determined that it will be with
an ordinary guy who can offer her a sane and stable life.

There is nothing ordinary about Kipling Gilmore. World-class
skier, Olympic Gold medalist, and a media darling known as G-Force for his love
of speed, Kipling is as celebrated for his good looks, personal charm, and
party credentials as for his athletic accomplishments. A horrific accident may
have ended his spectacular career, but he is still the kind of man who draws
attention and interest. Kipling knows he is lucky to have survived the accident,
lucky to be walking with only scars and a limp as evidence of his brush with
death. He is finding it easier than he expected to adjust to his new life as
head of Fool’s Gold’s search and rescue program, even though he is not crazy
about the name--HERO, Help Emergency Rescue Operations. He is ever conscious of
the debt he owes Mayor Marsha Tilson who not only came all the way to New
Zealand to offer him a job when he wasn’t certain he’d ever walk away from his
hospital bed but somehow arranged to have his sister Shelby rescued from their
abusive father when Kipling had failed her. His search and rescue job and his
partnership in The Man Cave, Fool’s Gold’s newest bar keep him busy, but
Kipling thinks Destiny Mills may be just what he needs to add excitement to his
personal life. He has a weakness for redheads, and the fact that she is only in
town for three months makes her perfect for a serial monogamist who limits his
love life to short-term relationships.

Destiny is doing her best to ignore the sparks between her
and Kipling. She is not immune to his appeal, but she is convinced that this
thrill-seeker is the last thing she needs in a life already filled with new
challenges. She has recently assumed responsibility for her fifteen-year-old
half-sister, Starr, and she is finding it difficult to find common ground with
the sister she met only ten days ago, particularly since a dozen years ago
Destiny turned her back on music, the natural bond between daughters of Jimmy
Don Mills. Things get complicated when, despite Destiny’s intention to remain
just friends with Kipling, their relationship becomes that of friends with
benefits. But Destiny mistrusts passion, and Kipling is skeptical about love.
Can these two find their way past all their differences to an HEA even when
they have a pressing reason to do so?

I’ve been a Susan Mallery fan for many years, and I’ve been
a Fool’s Gold fan since Mallery produced the first trilogy back in 2010. I’ve
read every book in the series, but I had some problems with this sixteenth
book. Although I liked both Destiny and Kipling and found Destiny and Starr’s
relationship as engaging as the romance, I just could not get past Destiny’s
behavior at one point in the story. What might be forgivable in a dreaming teenager
just seemed to me inexcusably stupid in a mature, twenty-first-century woman,
regardless of her inexperience. And that’s all I can say about that without
moving into spoiler territory.

Then there is the issue of The Man Cave and Jo’s Bar. We are
told that Fool’s Gold is a town of approximately 125, 500, and yet we are to
believe that there is not enough business for two bars without one threatening
the success of the other. And that is not even addressing the clear gender
distinction in their target customers. I understand that the term “small town”
is inexact, and a small town in California may be much larger than a small town
in my home state where outside of metropolitan Atlanta, only three of the
state’s more than 530 cities have a population over 100,000. But any town with
more than 125,000 people in it is too large for all the citizens to know one
another and too large for the patrons of bars to be limited to a relatively
small group of connected people. My reasoning just would not let me suspend
disbelief, and I was thrown out of the story.

Perhaps most significantly, I thought the story was just too
busy. With their family baggage and their very different goals, the tensions
between Destiny and Kipling provide ample conflict. The little “complication”
and the bar competition struck me as more irritating than riveting.

So, overall, I rank Hold
Me as one of the weaker novels in this popular, long-running series. Does
this mean I’ve sworn off this series or this author? Indeed not. Susan Mallery
is still on my auto-buy list, and I’m still looking forward to Kiss Me in July and to the stories of
the five Mitchell brothers, beginning with Thrill
Me in August. And I’m sure that many Fool’s Gold fans will not be bothered
in the least by the things I found distracting.

Any author can have a story that doesn't quite measure up to their usual standards. Those who read their works regularly will usually read it and continue following the author. It is unfortunate when it is the first book by that author one reads. They may never try her or him again.

I'm currently reading the trilogy before this one. In BEFORE WE KISSED, Kipling is introduced and has the accident. I'll continue to read the series. I found Rafe and Heidi's story, SUMMER DAYS, to be a stretch too. I like visiting Fool's Gold and it's inhabitants.

I'm still catching up with the Fool's Gold series so I'm not quite at this book yet but I've had my ups and downs with this series. While overall, I absolutely love Susan Mallery and her novels, I've had issues with characters previously (Denise Hendrix) but despite all that, I go back because I know most of the storylines are amazingly good and it always gets better with the next book. Thanks for sharing your review, Janga!

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